40 Ways to Get Banned From the Top 5 Social Networks

It may feel like a fustercluck, but there are actually some rules and regulations that go along with participating in social media. Not the kind that ban people from uploading pictures of their meals (PB&J no crust today guys! #omgsohungry), but the ones that help alleviate things like spamming, bad content, and a poor community experience. You know, the things that help make social media a nice place to be.

It's not a perfect system the social networks have worked out, but it's important for marketers to know -- because believe it or not, lots of marketers are breaking these rules and don't even know it. And it breaks our hearts to see marketers giving an honest go of social media get banned from the networks ... and then not even know why the heck it happened.

This post will review the policies the most popular social networks have set up -- some more stringent than others -- that we think you should be aware of. And we tried to put them in plain English, too, devoid of confusing and boring legal babble. If you're accidentally breaking any of these rules, at least now you can put the kibosh on your illicit activities before it's too late!

How Marketers Can Get Banned From Pinterest

If you're curious how the newest social network on the block works, we encourage you to read its Terms & Privacy page in full. But for a quick reality check, here are the guidelines marketers should remember when pinning to ensure they stay in Pinterest's good graces:

1) Grabbing another company's account name. When you open an account on Pinterest, you're indicating that you are authorized to act on behalf of that company. So if you're not an employee of that company, you're not authorized. And if you get caught, you're not allowed on Pinterest anymore, either.

2) Pinning copyrighted content. Any content you post cannot infringe on the rights of the content creator. Make sure it's either content you've created yourself, or content you have a license to share. That means if you're posting an image from your blog post, that better be copyright-free!

3) Automating your Pinterest content. Marketers can't use an automated service to post content to their pinboards, repin or like other pinners' content, or create links. All the rewards you reap from Pinterest, in other words, have to come from your own hard work! Note: If you pin a ton of content from one URL all in one sitting -- let's say you just published a blog post with a ton of great images, for example -- you may be prompted by Pinterest to verify that you're not a bot. Just fill it in and keep on keepin' on.

4) Scraping content from Pinterest. On a similar note, you can't use automation to scrape content from Pinterest. Whether you wanted to use it in blog posts, on your Facebook page, to get a list of links -- whatever -- you can't do it. Again, any information or content gathered has to be done manually.

5) Scraping for contacts. Any contacts you get from Pinterest have to be opt-ins; as in, they have to come to your site and fill out a form saying they want to hear more from you. Scraping Pinterest for pinners' personal information so you can market to them later is strictly prohibited.

6) Spamming posts. Just like you shouldn't be spamming the comments sections of blogs, you shouldn't be spamming the comments sections of pins.

7) Putting links in the wrong place. Pinterest wants you to include links in your pins so pinners can follow the links to get more information on a pin. But they only want it in the right place. When you pin an image, click 'Edit,' where you'll find a field labeled 'Link.' Put your link anywhere else and you may get banned.

8) Don't get banned. If you've been banned once, you're banned for life. Or as Pinterest puts it, "the Service is not available to any users previously removed from the service by Pinterest." So, tread lightly.

How Marketers Can Get Banned From LinkedIn

LinkedIn's rules aren't as stringent as the ones we've seen on other social networks -- perhaps the B2B playground hasn't gotten quite so out of hand. You can read LinkedIn's User Agreement in full, or just browse these highlights that jump out for marketers:

1) Connecting with people you don't know. Seriously! You have to actually know the people you connect with on LinkedIn, or they can boot ya right off!

2) Posting copyrighted content to forums. Whether it's your LinkedIn Group, LinkedIn Company Page, or on LinkedIn Answers, you can't publish information that violates others' intellectual property rights. This one won't get you banned, but LinkedIn can remove the content and close your group or page. Additionally, LinkedIn will terminate the accounts of users who have been "deemed to be repeat infringers under the United States Copyright Act." You know who you are.

3) Using LinkedIn messages as an ESP. LinkedIn messages are not to be used for mass emailing. This constitutes a misuse of service, and can get you kicked off the network.

4) Putting links and email addresses where they don't belong. You get to fill out your profile however you want, as long as it's accurate. So if you put, say, a link to your blog in, oh I don't know, the 'Name' field ... you're gonna get shut down pretty fast.

5) Selling your LinkedIn presence. Built up a pretty big LinkedIn Group? It might be an asset, but you can't sell it or monetize it in any way if you want to stay on the social network.

6) Using bots to get connections, followers, or members. Just like Pinterest and some other social networks we're about to cover in this blog post, LinkedIn wants you to grow your reach organically.

7) Impersonating another company. Another familiar refrain, brands can't create a fake profile for a competitor to mess around on. You'll look stupider doing that than they will, anyway.

How Marketers Can Get Banned From Twitter

The full list of Twitter "rules" can be found here: The Twitter Rules. Aptly named, eh? Here are the ones that are most likely to apply to marketers so you don't get banned by that sweet little tweety bird:

1) Impersonating others. If you're impersonating others in an attempt to mislead other Twitter users, Twitter will not be happy. That means no pretending to be a competitor -- that's a low blow move, anyway.

2) Snagging trademarked usernames. Another sketchy move is trying to grab your competitor's username. If they've trademarked the name, Twitter will reclaim it from you on their behalf. Twitter will also suspend you if you're using trademarked logos on your profile.

3) Squatting on handles. Ow, that sounds uncomfortable. This means you can't grab a Twitter username and not use it. Well, you can, but Twitter will just grab it right back if it remains inactive after 6 months. On a related note, you can't grab a username for the purposes of selling it.

4) Buying or selling Twitter usernames. There can be no transactions made around Twitter usernames at all. The penalty is possible permanent suspension from Twitter -- for buyers and sellers.

5) Giving yourself an unearned Twitter badge. Twitter has little badges for Promoted Products and Verified Accounts. If you use one of these badges anywhere on your profile -- including your profile picture or background image -- your profile will be suspended.

6) Posting the same thing over and over. If you're trying to get a tweet visibility, you can't do it by tweeting it like a maniac, particularly if it's duplicate content tweeted at specific users. Same goes for links -- Twitter will penalize you if they see you tweeting the same link over, and over, and over ... and over.

7) Following people like a bot would. That means you shouldn't use a bot to manage your following and unfollowing, nor should you act like a bot when manually following and unfollowing people. Aggressive follow and unfollow behavior -- particularly seeing a large amount of people followed and/or unfollowed in a short period of time -- will signal to Twitter that something's amiss.

8) Getting followers in sketchy ways. Specifically, those "get followers fast!" schemes. It may get you permanently banned from Twitter.

9) Hijacking a hashtag or Trending Topic. If there's a #hashtag or trending topic blowing up Twitter and you want in on the action, you can't try to hijack it with unrelated content about your brand. If you do, you could feel the wrath of the mighty blue bird mighty soon.

10) Posting links with no context. If your updates are just a slew of links with no personal content to give them context, you'll not only annoy your followers, but Twitter will also want you off their network.

11) Getting ratted out. Sometimes the Twitter community self-polices. If a large number of people are blocking you, or your account has received a lot of SPAM complaints, Twitter will boot you. So play nice out there.

2) Running contests. Ooooh, that's a new one! You cannot run contests, sweepstakes, offers, or coupons directly on your Google+ page, but you can display a link to those promotions that leads people offsite.

3) Aggressive Circling. That's a ... weird phrase. But much like you can't aggressively follow and unfollow people on Twitter without getting flagged, you can't Circle a ton of people on Google+ without punishment.

4) Altering or adding +1 buttons where they don't belong. Similar to the Twitter badge rule, you can't, say, superimpose the Google +1 button on an ad. It's a misleading way to garner clicks.

5) Keyword stuffing. Yes, it can happen here, too! Because Google+ is so closely tied with organic search, the penalties are just as stiff. If you're trying to rank for a keyword, stuffing it into every Google+ update is not the way to do it.

6) Marketing regulated products. If you're marketing in a regulated industry, such as alcohol, tobacco, medical devices, fireworks, pharmeceuticals, etc., you cannot use Google+ to market those topics.

7) Letting your page go dormant. If your Google+ account is dormant for more than 9 months, Google can snatch it right back from ya.

How Marketers Can Get Banned From Facebook

We've all probably participated in our fair share of complaining about leaving Facebook. But could they force marketers to leave? Maybe, if they start doing any of these things that violate the Facebook Page Guidelines:

1) Creating fake accounts. As Forrest Gump said, "That's all I have to say about that."

2)Using bots or scrapers. Well, almost. Facebook says you can't use them "without our prior permission." Which basically means no using bots or scrapers ... if you had permission, you'd know it.

3) Posting copyrighted content. You've heard this one a bunch of times in this blog post, and if you do it a bunch of times on Facebook, they have the right to disable your account.

4) Naming your page in goofy ways. Facebook has some pretty stringent naming requirements! Your page name cannot consist of solely generic terms, like "pizza," must use proper grammar and capitalization, may not be in all caps, and may not include character symbols.

5) Collecting user data incorrectly. What does that mean, exactly? It means you have to clearly state that it's your business, not Facebook, collecting their information, and you will obtain their consent before using their data in any way.

6) Including calls-to-action in your cover photo. This includes promotions or discounts, requests to 'Like' or share your photo, contact information for your business, or generic CTAs like "Tell a Friend."

7) Running contest or promotions outside of a Facebook app. If you want to run a contest or promotion on Facebook, you can only do it through one of their apps -- either a Canvas Page or a Facebook App. You also can't base participation on a requirement that a user take any action with your brand page, such as uploading a photo to your Timeline, or "Liking" a wall post. The only actions that are allowed as a condition of participation are "Liking" a page, connecting to your app, or checking in to a Place. You can't use any Facebook mechanism, like the 'Like' button, in order to vote or register for the promo, either. Finally, you can't notify winners through Facebook. So basically ... you have to jump through a whole lotta hoops if you want to run a promotion or contest on Facebook.

Have you unwittingly broken any of these social media rules? Have we missed any that you think marketers should know about?

As it relates to Twitter specifically, can we tweet the same link multiple times but at a reasonable interval? Also, can we use a different intro text in the tweet to reach a different audience with the same content? I ask because I see Hubspot doing it and thought it a pretty cool strategy.

one other thing before i go as it relates to Pinterest. I dont use it much. However, I have an account that I use to post books I am reading and think others would enjoy. I post the cover shot of the book. I have been told that the cover shot is a violation of copyright laws. WT...? How am I to present a frickin book I like without showing the cover of the book???? Doesnt that defeat the purpose of Pinterest?

@vin Yes, you can tweet the same link multiple times if they're at reasonable intervals... you just don't want to do it every hour or something. Basically, if it seems like a bot would do it, don't do it.

And yes, you can also use the same link just using different intro text so you reach different audiences!

Excellent! Would love to see something similar about YouTube. A friend has had their company name hijacked by a competitor who will not give it up. I'm interested to see if they can do anything about it.

Anton Ajon

Hi Corey,

Great article! I have a question regarding point #2 for Pinterest. How does pinterest define what content one has a license to share? Pinterest is relatively new to me but as I look at what people have pinned, it seems like most items (photos) require a license to share. This is a bit odd since pinterest makes it very easy to pin items with the "pin it" toolbar.

Good compilation of the list! Another one that I would want to add is when inviting contacts lists to like your page on Facebook. There's a limit of 5000 contacts that can be added each time. Hope that helps!

I find it surprising that Google + penalises users for running contests especially for a company promoting an offer. The introduction of Facebook Offers has proved successful and has encouraged many small businesses to use social media for Internet marketing. Google + desperately needs people to make the shift and we need a reason to move.

You got me. I am an amatuer who does not even know what "Pinterest" is referring to. Anyone ever go to an English class when introduction was part of the composition? My blogs are totoally original. So who is copyrighting me? horseflynet.com/blog The Fly Lady

Jenny

Can someone expand on #6 in Google+?

6) Marketing regulated products. If you're marketing in a regulated industry, such as alcohol, tobacco, medical devices, fireworks, pharmeceuticals, etc., you cannot use Google+ to market those topics.

Florence Smith

Thanks for sharing this information. I have had people become downright nasty when I connected with them on LinkedIn and then requested that they NOT include me on their mailing list. One - a marketing professional told me that "LinkedIn was for making connections" and I agreed, but added that "it was not for getting spammed!"

And sometimes you can get banned for no apparent reason at all. I managed to get my Google account and everything tied to it disabled (Google+, GoogleAnalytics, AdWords, GooglePlay for my Android, GoogleReader with my many years of compiling sources to follow) and have no idea how. Make sure you back up everything you can.

Thanks for this post. I might had already made some of this mistake but haven't been banned yet. Can I post this post on my blog? I think this will help my readers. The credit will be given to hubspot. Thanks

Great article! It also helps to keep your eyes and ears open and be aware if a particular site leans to the left or right politically, or if it's primary focus is on a special interest (religion, charities, etc...). I've heard stories of folks who got banned for posting items or espousing beliefs contrary to the majority of the other members.

Great post by Hubspot. it gives us important insights and guidelines how we manage our social networking marketing & promote our products & services.We cannot post or comment anything on social networking sites without knowing the rules of engagement with our fans.But my point is why Facebook shows me warning message if i promote my legitimate products on a certain Facebook fan page and let's people know about my products & services?

Great content! So far I've abided by the rules, however I did get a warning the other day from Facebook for requesting friends whom I didn't personally know. They were connected to my contacts though. I find this a little annoying as FB activity promotes connections. Anyway, can you tell me whether you can get banned from LinkedIn if you have 2 personal profiles? Thanks in advance.

Meg

I was hoping someone could answer Anton's question that was posted yesterday...Thanks :)

Hi Corey,

Great article! I have a question regarding point #2 for Pinterest. How does pinterest define what content one has a license to share? Pinterest is relatively new to me but as I look at what people have pinned, it seems like most items (photos) require a license to share. This is a bit odd since pinterest makes it very easy to pin items with the "pin it" toolbar.

Good stuff here, but I didn't know about the 9-month thing on Google+. Sure doesn't seem like they're doing it all that often because I still come across a lot of dead pages that were created more than a year ago.

Here's one that happened to me on LinkedIn. I had a word in my name area that was not my name. They shut me down for 7 days. And they don't tell you they've shut you down. You only find out when you try to sign on, then contact them.

Another time, someone who emailed me and was rude, contacted LinkedIn to complain about my answer back to her. I got shut down for a day, provided LInkedIN with her note and they wrote back that they didnt' want to get involved.

Marlo Garrett

Regarding FB #7, we were unaware of this until I read the article today. We just posted a contest on FB Tuesday and now all of our apps have been disabled two days later, even ones that had nothing to do with the contest. How long will it take before the ban is lifted. I have tried to find out this information on FB's help page but have not come across it.

Liz

My question is about copywriting content. I don't knowing post copyrighted content but I do use the Share feature (on Facebook) and Repin images (on Pinterest) to share content that has been posted by others. This practice is done by many and even encouraged. If Person A posts a copyrighted photo and two dozen people share this image on Facebook, is it likely they could all be banned?

Zohaib Khan

I am agree with Sarah Ryan, there are thousand of companies violate FB point #7 .

Mary Clark

Many of these violations happen to real estate agents due to not having any instruction on social media. They are trying to advertise and run into glitches they dont't even understand,get discouraged and stop using it. It is very time consuming, too. Agents dont have time to learn or use social media right now. Courses cost income that agents often dont have.

Re LinkedIn, I am finding some really unacceptable posters, videos and verbiage. I am throwing out connections as I find them. I also added a disclaimer to my profile re no endorsement due to connection. Maybe that may help a little.

LinkedIn needs to start reviewing its own site and doing clean up. Posters cant do it all for them. These sites are DIY and at some point, the site administrators are going to have to start doing their jobs.

LinkedIn is supposed to be business oriented and now I am seeing ads for very suspect "businesses". I do not want to be anywhere near a site which allows these suspect activities.

Great post Corey. Not knowing the rules is not an excuse for breaking them no will it protect you from the consequences. Beware any Internet marketing services that lure you with purchasing likes/shares/follows etc. While temping when trying to grow reach and influence on these networks, buying these "fake endorsements" can get you banned for life. Just think of the existing investment before knowingly putting it at risk. The first step is to know.

e

looks like most of the rules are for spammers. copyright certainly an issue. Most ppl: if it is on social media, I can use it. Probably the way it should be.

There are a lot of great posts and some very valid points. I do have a question for Mary Clark, I have been on Linked-in for about a year and a half and now you have me a little worried. You said "Re LinkedIn, I am finding some really unacceptable posters, videos and verbiage" I was hoping you could elaborate on that a little more so I will know what to watch for.